Sieve drum apparatus for the continuous treatment of lengths of textile material

ABSTRACT

A sieve drum apparatus for the continuous treatment of lengths of textile material held along their width which includes a sieve drum under a suction draft which is partially looped by at least one tension chain guided in a ring mounted to be rotatable about the sieve drum by roller means. The ring has a U-shaped portion for receiving the tension chain. In addition, rollers are provided in spaced relationship around the drum which are engaged in another U-shaped portion of the ring.

United States Patent Fleissner July 8, 1975 [54] SlEVE DRUM APPARATUS FOR THE 3,510,959 5/1970 Fleissrler .1 34/115 CONTINUOUS TREATMENT OF LENGTHS 3,783,526 l/1974 Flelssner 34/115 OF TEXTILE MATERIAL FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS [75] Inventor; Hans Fleissner, Egelsbach near 495,778 11/1938 United Kingdom 26/61 A Frankfurt am Main Germany 911,980 6/1960 United Kingdom 34/158 [73] Assignee: Vepa AG, Switzerland Primary Examiner john J Camby [22] Filed: Feb. 1, 1974 Assistant ExaminerHenry C. Yuen Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Craig & Antonelli [21] Appl. No.: 438,536

[57] ABSTRACT 1 1 Foreign Application Priority Data A sieve drum apparatus for the continuous treatment Feb. 1, 1973 Germany 2304776 of lengths of textile material held along their width which includes a sieve drum under a suction draft [52] US. Cl. 34/115; 34/158 which is partially looped by at least one tension chain [51] Int. Cl. F26b 13/00 guided in a ring mounted to be rotatable about the [58] Field of Search 34/158, 1 15, 155, 23. 120; sieve drum by roller means. The ring has a U-shaped 26/51, 57 E, 61 A, 68, 52 portion for receiving the tension chain. ln addition, rollers are provided in spaced relationship around the [56] References Cited drum which are engaged in another U-shaped portion UNITED STATES PATENTS of the 401932 4/1889 Craven 34/158 8 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures *irffl Plmd l m5 Fig.7

Fig.2

IIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIII! 1 III/l I11 SIEVE DRUM APPARATUS FOR THE CONTINUOUS TREATMENT OF LENGTHS OF TEXTILE MATERIAL This invention relates to a sieve drum apparatus for the continuous treatment of web-shaped material, especially textile material, held along its width by tentering means on a sieve drum under a suction draft. The tentering means includes at least one tension chain looped around the sieve drum and guided in a ring. The ring is U-shaped in cross section in order to receive the tension chain and is mounted to be rotatable about the sieve drum by means of rollers attached to holding means guided on threaded spindles extending outside of the drum in the axial direction, in accordance with the apparatus disclosed in German Pat. application P l7 513.4. and US. Pat. No. 3,605,280.

The invention according to the above-noted German application is based on the problem of guiding the tension chains required to hold the textile material in a spread-out condition on the sieve drum so that any damage to the sieve drum surface, which is optionally covered with a fine-mesh screen fabric, is avoided during the movement of the chain around the drum and during the shifting thereof in the axial direction in order to adapt to the respective widths of textile material. The solution, which has been discovered, resides in the provision of guide rings rotatably mounted about the sieve drum, which rings are kept at a distance from the sieve drum surface by means of rollers.

This constructional solution has fully proven itself in practical application. The arrangement has the advantage that neither the chains nor the rings come into contact with the sieve drum, although the textile material is in contact with the sieve drum. The forces effective on the rings in the axial as well as radial directions are absorbed by several rollers having a smaller diameter. these latter rollers contacting the crosspieces of a Z-shaped ring. The rollers are mounted at holding blocks which, in turn, can be adjusted by means of axially aligned spindles arranged outside of the drum.

In practice, not entirely satisfactory results could be attained by the arrangement of the necessarily large number of rollers for the accurate adjustment of the ring around the drum and furthermore by the exact machining of the flange surfaces on the Z-shaped ring. Also, the construction frequently could not withstand the harsh operating conditions to which the machine is subjected for any long period of time.

Starting with the apparatus heretofore described, the invention is based on the problem of simplifying the basically complicated construction with the Z-shaped ring and the plurality of rollers, in order to obtain also a longer service life of the machine.

The solution which has been found in accordance with this invention resides in that the ring, in addition to the profile for receiving the tensioning chain, has another U-shaped ring profile engaged by the rollers arranged around the drum. lf advantageously, the rollers are additionally fashioned as wheels which contact the U-shaped contour of the ring with their peripheral surface as well as at least with an annular end face, each wheel now absorbs the axial forces as well as the radial forces acting on the ring, on the one hand, from the material and, on the other hand, due to the force of gravity. Consequently, the construction is substantially sim plified, can easily be manufactured, and has such a rugged structure that repairs are unnecessary over appreciable periods of time.

The drawing shows schematically an embodiment of the device according to the present invention. It is to be noted, in this connection, that the invention can also be seen in a combination with further constructional features mentioned in the following description.

in the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal section of an apparatus of this invention including a sieve drum with a continuous tensioning chain of a tentering means;

FIG. 2 shows a cross section through the sieve drum of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 shows, in an enlarged view, the zone of the apparatus indicated in dot-dash lines in FIG. 2.

A length of textile material 1 to be treated on the sieve drum is attached via spreader rollers 2 to pin or tensioning chains 3 with the aid of brush rolls 4 outside of the sieve drum unit. The pin chains 3 are then guided upwardly into the unit to the topside of the drum and from there travel around the largest peripheral portion of the sieve drum 5, which drum is under a suction draft with the aid of a fan 17. The sieve drum 5 is rotatably secured in a heat-insulated housing; the housing is subdivided by a wall 18 into a treatment chamber and a fan chamber. Above and below the fan, heating units 19 are provided which regenerate the air taken in by the fan and reintroduce the air into the treatment chamber.

The pin or tensioning chains 3 are guided around the sieve drum in rings 7. The rings, in turn, are held at a spacing from the sieve drum with the aid of wheels or rollers 20 having a larger diameter than rollers heretofore used; the wheels in turn, are attached to axially adjustable holding means.

The exact construction of the rings 7 and wheels 20 can be seen from the enlarged view in FIG. 3. The chain 3 is disposed in a U-shaped profile or channel of the ring 7. By the friction of the chain 3 against the ring 7, the ring is guided around the sieve drum together with the chain. The mounting of the ring 7 at a distance from the sieve drum 5 is effected with the aid of a plurality of wheels 20 rotatably arranged at walls 21. The walls 21, which can be seen particularly clearly from FIG. 1, are axially adjustable by means of spindles 9 and close off the free space between the drum 5 and the housing wall 6 or the screen cover 23, in order to vary, when the ring 7 is adjusted, simultaneously also the dimensions of the treatment chamber.

The rollers 20 contact, with their peripheral surface 24 and the one annular end face 25, inner surfaces of a further U-shaped profile or channel 26 formed in the ring 7, which inner surfaces flare conically toward the outside, during the operation of the device, i.e., when the material is held in the chain pins 16. Due to the fact that the ball bearings 28 securing the wheel 20 via a shaft 27 to the wall 21 absorb axial forces as well as radial forces, this measure results in a simpler and more rugged construction. The two outwardly oriented U- shaped profiles 22 and 26 can be machined in a simple manner, just as the contact surfaces at the wheel 20.

While the novel embodiments of the invention have been described, it will be understood that various omissions, modifications and changes in these embodiments may be made by one skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

What I claim:

l. In a sieve drum apparatus for the continuous treatment of lengths of textile material held along their width, on at least one sieve drum under a suction draft, around which is partially looped at least one tension chain guided in a ring, wherein the ring has a portion U-shaped in cross section in order to receive the tension chain and is mounted to be rotatable about the sieve drum by roller means attached to holding means guided on threaded spindles extending outside of the drum in the axial direction, the improvement wherein said ring has in addition to the U-shaped portion for receiving the chain, another U-shaped portion having an inner portion and said roller means comprise rollers disposed in spaced relationship around the drum, said rollers engaging the inner portion of said another U shaped portion.

2. The apparatus according to claim I, wherein the rollers are each shaped as a wheel which contacts said another U-shaped portion of the ring with a peripheral surface, as well as at least with one annular end face.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein further Ushaped portion is conically widened radially toward the outside away from the drum.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the rollers are rotatably mounted on said holding means by bearings which absorb both axial and radial forces applied to said rollers.

5. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said sieve drum is disposed rotatably in a housing and said holding means consists of a moveable wall closing off a free space between the sieve drum and a housing wall or sieve cover, the movable wall being adjustable in the axial direction of said sieve drum by said spindle means.

6. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said another U-shaped portion comprises a channel formed by two radially extending annular flanges and the rollers are shaped as wheels having a diameter sufficient to provide annular end faces that contact at least one of said annular flanges.

7. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein each roller has a peripheral surface that engages a curved web section provided between said annular flanges.

8. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the U-shaped portion of the ring that receives the tensioning chain is formed by one of the annular flanges forming said another U-shaped portion and by another smaller annular flange spaced from said one annular flange, the flanges on said ring all extending radially outwardly. 

1. In a sieve drum apparatus for the continuous treatment of Lengths of textile material held along their width, on at least one sieve drum under a suction draft, around which is partially looped at least one tension chain guided in a ring, wherein the ring has a portion U-shaped in cross section in order to receive the tension chain and is mounted to be rotatable about the sieve drum by roller means attached to holding means guided on threaded spindles extending outside of the drum in the axial direction, the improvement wherein said ring has in addition to the U-shaped portion for receiving the chain, another U-shaped portion having an inner portion and said roller means comprise rollers disposed in spaced relationship around the drum, said rollers engaging the inner portion of said another U-shaped portion.
 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the rollers are each shaped as a wheel which contacts said another U-shaped portion of the ring with a peripheral surface, as well as at least with one annular end face.
 3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein further U-shaped portion is conically widened radially toward the outside away from the drum.
 4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the rollers are rotatably mounted on said holding means by bearings which absorb both axial and radial forces applied to said rollers.
 5. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said sieve drum is disposed rotatably in a housing and said holding means consists of a moveable wall closing off a free space between the sieve drum and a housing wall or sieve cover, the movable wall being adjustable in the axial direction of said sieve drum by said spindle means.
 6. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said another U-shaped portion comprises a channel formed by two radially extending annular flanges and the rollers are shaped as wheels having a diameter sufficient to provide annular end faces that contact at least one of said annular flanges.
 7. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein each roller has a peripheral surface that engages a curved web section provided between said annular flanges.
 8. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the U-shaped portion of the ring that receives the tensioning chain is formed by one of the annular flanges forming said another U-shaped portion and by another smaller annular flange spaced from said one annular flange, the flanges on said ring all extending radially outwardly. 